The very first thing I did after I put Insider into my cd-player was check my sound system. I discovered that there was nothing wrong with it. The sound of this second Kingcrow cd is in one word horrible, there’s no system in the world that could make this music sound any better. OK, there is an occasional acoustic guitar that was put down on tape in a proper way but then it’s combined with vocals that seem to be recorded in a shut container box (with the microphones outside!). You might think that this is one of my famous crashing reviews, but let me assure you, it’s not. Despite the ear aching sound and production, the music itself is pretty good.

These Italians know what they’re doing and they prove their quality in the way they combine heavy metal with pure progressive rock, a job well done especially considering the fact that Insider is a concept album. On the technical side I can’t do anything else than make compliments, the guitars, the drums and the near perfect English speech, it’s all quite impressive. So where does this leave Kingcrow? They have the honor of making the worst sounding album of 2004 (remember, this is not a demo!) but also one of the most promising albums. I hope that this band finds a proper record company willing to invest in a re-recording of ‘Insider’.